Turn a cardboard tube into a cute and colorful jellyfish craft for kids! You’ll just need an empty paper towel roll, some paint, and scissors. This jellyfish art project is perfect for kindergarten, first grade and up. It makes a great addition to your ocean or sea life unit too!

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Here’s how to turn an empty paper towel roll into a unique jellyfish craft. This simple art project provides lots of fine motor practice, and the finished jellyfish would be perfect to add to an ocean scene with other sea animals like sunfish, sharks, or sea turtles.

Check out even more crafts in the video below!

Paper Towel Roll Jellyfish Craft

Materials for Paper Towel Roll Jellyfish Craft

• Empty paper towel roll
• Scissors (I like to use these scissors myself, but they’re a bit sharp for young children.)
• Tempera Paint (This is our favorite brand! I like how bold the colors are, and the paint doesn’t have a strong odor.)
• Single hole punch (This one is good for punching small holes.)
• String or yarn

Directions for Paper Towel Roll Jellyfish Craft

1. Cut off the bottom third of a paper towel roll.

2. Paint the outside of the longer piece of the paper towel roll with tempera paint.

3. Paint the inside of the paper towel roll with another color.

4. Use q-tips or small paintbrushes to paint designs on the bell (top part) of the jellyfish. (It’s fun to look at pictures of real jellyfish for ideas. They have all kinds of different designs, patterns, and colors. You can look online or check out some books from the library.)

5. Once the paint has completely dried, cut long slits from the bottom of the cardboard tube up the the bottom of the bell (top part) of the jellyfish. Do this around the entire tube.

6. Use a pencil to roll the jellyfish tentacles to give them shape. We rolled some to the left and some to the right.

7. After rolling all your tentacles, adjust them to look just the way you’d like.

8. Punch a small hole in the top of your jellyfish. Tie a string through the hole so you can hang it!

Learn about different kinds of sea life through a variety of reading, math, science, art, and sensory activities for a home preschool ocean theme.

Check it out here!